The Bodleian, Sheldonian and Clarendon buildings at sunset
The Sheldonian and Bodleian at sunset
(Image credit: Sheng Peng (DPhil in Molecular and Cellular Medicine) / Graduate Photography Competition)
Application Guide

Submitting your application

Pre-submission checklist

Each year we receive a substantial number of enquiries from applicants who wish to make changes or correct information in their application. If the application has been processed and is ready for assessment or if the deadline has passed, we may not be able to resolve them. Before submitting your application, please make sure you have checked the following:

  • You have selected the correct course. Remember you can only apply to a maximum of three graduate courses (of which only two can be taught courses) and you will not be able to withdraw later and submit another application for a different course;
  • Your names are entered exactly as they appear in your passport;
  • You have correctly entered on the ‘About You’ tab (where applicable) whether your leave to remain is indefinite or temporary;
  • You have uploaded all of the compulsory supporting documents required for the application. You can find more information, including word limits on the relevant course page. General supporting document requirements can be found within this Application Guide. Do not upload documents that are not required;
  • You have uploaded the correct version of each of your supporting documents and the transcripts clearly show your name, your institution and a breakdown of your grades;
  • You have entered your referee details correctly, particularly each referee’s institutional or professional email address; and
  • You have checked which scholarship schemes you are eligible for and, where applicable, have uploaded any required documents.

Submitting your application

Once you have completed the online application form, navigate to the final ‘Declaration’ tab.

In order to submit your graduate application, you must agree to the terms of the Data Protection Notice, Declaration and where relevant, the payment terms, by ticking the box and typing your name into the given field. Details of our policy on misleading or omitted information are available on the University policies page. You'll also see a count of how many documents you have successfully uploaded to your application; make sure this matches the number you expect. 

When you've completed the Declaration fields and you're ready to submit your application form, select the ‘Pay and Submit’ button. You will then progress to the payment screens. For information about the application fee and how to make the payment, please visit The application fee section of this page.

If you do not need to pay an application fee, you will instead see a button simply marked ‘Submit’.

Troubleshooting

If you are unable to sign the Declaration or submit your application form, check that all of the tabs of the application form have been completed. The header of each tab should show a blue ‘tick’. You'll need to revisit any tabs with a red ‘cross’. 

Mandatory questions are marked with an asterisk (*). If you see any fields highlighted in yellow, these are mandatory questions for which you have not provided an answer, or where there is an error with the answer you have provided. Make sure you complete or correct these fields in order to proceed with your application. Incomplete mandatory fields will be highlighted in yellow when you select the ‘save and proceed’ button at the bottom of a tab on the application form. Use the ‘cancel’ button to remain on the current tab to complete these fields. 

If you believe you have completed all of the tabs correctly but one of the tabs still shows an error, please contact Graduate Admissions, attaching a screenshot of the relevant tab to your query.

What happens after you submit your application?

After you have paid the application fee and submitted your application, you will receive an automated confirmation email. Please note that this does not mean your application is complete and ready for assessment. 

Your application will then be processed by the central Graduate Admissions team. If any of your supporting documents are invalid or do not meet the University's requirements, they will be removed from your application. This may cause your application to become incomplete, so you will need to resolve this before the application deadline. 

We encourage you to submit your application at least two weeks ahead of the deadline for your chosen course to have time to resolve any issues with your application prior to the deadline.

The processing of your application will usually take a few days, but it can take up to two weeks close to course application deadlines. Once this is complete, you'll be able to access Graduate Applicant Self Service and find out whether your application has met all of the requirements for it to be assessed by the academic department.

Please note: if you submit your application within the two weeks before the deadline, we may not be able to let you know before the deadline if there are any problems with your application. It's your responsibility to make sure your application is complete, with all necessary supporting documents and a minimum of two references, by the deadline to which you're applying.

Applications that are submitted and complete by the deadline will be sent to the academic department for assessment. You can find more information about when you can expect to receive the outcome of your application on our Decision Timeline.

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